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CLAUDE DELAVAL COBHAM
Exerpta Cypria
page 430 View PDF version of this page recommendation from Colonel Misset, and stating my determination to wait for another opportunity for Constantinople, was settled in the apartments I have before alluded to: they had been occupied by Lieutenant Colonel Rooke, who had died at Baffa, the ancient Paphofe, a few days before ; a gentleman whose memory seemed to be held in great respect at Cyprus, and whose inclination for travel had kept him for a long time in the east, where he lavished large sums in objects of research and in acts of generosity, endearing him to the natives of the countries he visited.
Thus settled at Cyprus, I was left to my own resources for employment, and obliged to remain at Lamica for the chance of any unforeseen occasion to quit it. I became one of the family of the rice-consul, and conformed to the unwholesome custom of making a heavy ineal at mid-dajr. The mornings and evenings 1 passed alone.
I was often amused by the assumed dignity of the different representatives of Europeau nations at Lamica, where the Austrian, Neapolitan, French and Spanish consuls had their residence, and where etiquette of precedency was pushed to a degree not known in our ovt-ii country; all except the Prendi consul were engaged in trade; and of conrse their own interest prevailed over that of the country they represented. The only English merchant on the island resided at La Scala : he had to contend with the united phalanx of Levantines, who had no inclination to admit a competitor in trade. An Englishman wishing to settle there will be exposed to much opposition, and will only succeed by baring large funds to meet every exigency to whieh he is liable. Much of the trade is contraband, particularly com : and it is necessary to keep on good terms with the aga and officers employed at the custom-house by presents, the best and only means of ensuring favour in any competition with Levantines.
In the cemetery of the convent of St Lazarns at La Scala I saw the tombstones of English who formerly resided at Lamica; but their date is not later than 1750.
The sickness that exists in the country during the hot weather caused the presence of a large number of medical men, whose abilities may be appreciated when the reader hears that one of the most eminent of them took me on one side to question me relative to the effeeis of James* powder, which I had recommended and given in a slight case of fever. I was asked with great seriousness, whether it was not composed of pulverised cranium of the human head. It was a medicine not known except by report amongst them.
To guard against the effects of the malaria a European must leave the plaius in the month of June, seek the mountains and not quit them till October: withont this precaution he must inevitably be seized with illness, aud often is carried off by the fevers that rage with great violence during the hot months.
The superstition of the Levantines of this island may be imagined by my mentioning that I observed the nurse who attended the consul's children burn incense under their nose every evening at sunset, to prevent the effects of the evil eye. On my smiling at this ceremony, I was told it was common; perhaps indeed my presence, as a stranger, rendered it essential.
Lamica contains two or three wide streets, and has one mosque. The principal Levan-tines and Franks inhabit large houses in the outskirts of the town : amongst the most considerable is a palace of the Archbishop of Cyprus, where, during my stay at Lamica, I went, on the occasion of some particular ceremony, to pay my respects to the Archbishop. All the Franks and Levantines, under their respective consuls, were assembled ; the canons of the church received them in an antechamber. Coffee and refreshments were handed about, and as the Archbishop had been taken suddenly ill only a few of the principal visitors were introduced to him, amongst whom 1 was one. He was lying on a crimson bed of state, in full
42(1
EXCERPTA CYPRIA.
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